Practicing Gratitude

It is times like these that we begin to feel grateful for the things we may otherwise have taken for granted. Now more than ever, our days are ridden with anxiety and uncertainty for what is to come; so now more than ever, we must look within, take this chance to reflect, and meditate on what is. Not what once was, or what could be, but what is, here and now.

Sometimes I wonder why it is that we wait till we grow old to be thankful for what we once had? We often say “If only we’d known how lucky we were when we were children.” The truth is we did know because we cherished every moment with every bit of ourselves without a second thought or any thought for that matter. We think we were the truest most whole versions of ourselves. Once we grow older, we may realize that’s what we’re missing. We sit and wish we could live our child lives all over again when in reality we will always have the ability to look at the world through the eyes of our inner child, our truest most curious selves. We must simply choose to do so. We rarely cherish the things that we have in the current moment.

As I sit on the front stoop of my parents’ wonderful new home in Landenberg, Pennsylvania, I realize there are many things to be grateful for. I’m thankful that my family is alive and well, and that we can all enjoy a hearty Thanksgiving meal together. I’m thankful for the sunshine casting warm rays on my face on this unusually toasty Thanksgiving Day. I’m grateful to be enjoying the pristine outdoor air and the vivid green of cut grass. I hear a variety of chirps and birdcalls, near and far, echoing through the forest, and I’m thankful for them too. I’m thankful for the woodpecker, making quite a racket in the tall pine tree to the left of me. I’m thankful for all the birds, bees, insects, deer, the endless creatures that we share this miracle of a planet with, and that make up the intricate ecosystem of this planet, an ecosystem that humans would be nothing without.

There are endless things to be grateful for, so why is it often so hard to not let the worries creep into our thoughts? Wouldn’t it be nice if all the worrying began to absolve all of our problems, and one by one, they simply disappeared, dissipated into thin air? Too bad it is not so. But what if for every worry we thought of two things we were grateful for? Maybe then, the worries would feel like half as many.

Then again, thank God our brains worry at all! It turns out that this is just nature’s way of helping us survive. I’m grateful that my brain cares enough about my survival enough to make me worry! If it wasn’t for our worried old brains, we definitely wouldn’t have made it past that saber tooth tiger, and we sure as hell wouldn’t have made it this far in our evolution. That definitely is something to be thankful for. Sometimes it truly is the little things. Here we are in the year 2020, with so many things to be grateful for, and the incredible gift of being able to practice gratitude. May we continue to remind ourselves to practice gratitude not just on Thanksgiving, but every day. May we think of two things we are thankful for for every worry that we have. May we see the world through the eyes of our inner child, throughout the rest of this year and on through the next.